Living The Pure Life

Jen Spindler
New York, USA

I want to express what I think about my volunteer experience with VE Global, but what can I write to explain the inexplicable? At best, I can describe my time in Chile as a wonderful feeling in my bones. I seriously get ridiculously happy thinking about it. When I remember the seven months I spent in Santiago, I think about my volunteer friends, the children, the culture, and a country that as a whole taught me more than I could ever imagine.  I think of how I sat with children for hours on end, listened to them and allowed their words to decide my whole day. I smile when I reminisce about how I knew more personal details regarding those children than about any TV show, magazine or celebrity. I love that I spent hours planning a lesson only to find it go horribly wrong and laugh just the same. These memories have now become a single emotion that I recognize and feel when I remember my time as a volunteer, and here is my attempt to interpret that feeling into words.

Volunteering is living the pure life. It is a way of life that is all encompassing and affects a person in every aspect. As a result of focusing on my work with the kids, other areas of my life in Chile changed for the better. I bought my vegetables and fruits from the local farmer’s market, developed an appreciation for nature and weighed less importance on appearance.  I learned about the cultures of Norway, Pakistan, New Zealand and Austria, and developed lifelong friendships. I am glad that I can say that I have happily lived without texting, a dishwasher, an air conditioner or a coffee pot.  I became a better person as a result of caring for the children who I worked with and for spending time with the volunteers who worked beside me, and I was able to live a pure life focused on giving and loving. With surprises daily and precious moments often, it was perfect in every way. It was single handedly the most amazing experience I have had to date.

The trust that the institutions have developed with VE allows volunteers to come to Chile and give everything they have.  It is unique in that the institutions expect great volunteers, and for even a short time allow their children to be loved by what would be strangers. Due to VE Global’s reputation, I was given the opportunity to contribute time, energy and love for seven wonderful months, and in return I received memories that are irreplaceable.  VE Global volunteers come from all over the world, and around the world we feel the same; in the city of Santiago there is an organization making a difference. I am an individual living in New York, but I am still a part of a greater movement. Right now there are a group of individuals continuing the cycle I was a part of, the slow fight to create a more positive world for children. I am only lucky in that I have personally seen it. I have been to Santiago and I have seen the face of a child in a volunteer’s hand. I have patiently listened to a boy who needed to talk and I have watched a volunteer help a child learn to read for the first time. I can say that I know how it feels to have been a part of an effort to change the world, and I personally know others who can say the same. Can you?